BEDFORD, VA :: In a season of twists and turns, Johnny Cash, 38, remained consistent at two different racetracks to win the championship in what ended up being called the Moonshine Capital Promotions Series.
The series was split between two racetracks, Franklin County Speedway and Ace Speedway due to a series of awkward situations. Despite going winless on the season, Cash made the most of it to score the championship – his first Late Model championship.
“There’s a lot of work that goes behind every race, win lose or draw,” Cash said. “It was pretty cool. We were working on the car, getting it geared up to overcome some front-end problems and get fast as we needed to. It was rewarding to know we won the championship with a relatively imperfect car. We’ve been working hard all year long trying to overcome some problems. We had a great time doing it, running with some good guys.”
While a multi-time champion in other divisions, Cash knows what it means to be a champion in a Late Model Stock Car.
“To be a Late Model champion, that’s really cool. A lot of horsepower you sit behind. When you mash the throttle coming off of turn four and meet that corner, having to break going in to the corner, it’s an amazing feeling. You don’t have much time to wiggle your fingers and relax so you spend 35-100 laps with nothing but intense concentration and the trust of another driver and trus them with your life because we can easily kill each other with a bad decision. It’s making good choices and being aggressive at the same time.”
The championship wasn’t Cash’s first championship of any kind. He has been racing for 30 years and has scored track championships in multiple divisions prior to this season – most notably, in the Mini Stock division at Franklin County Speedway.
“This is my 30th year of racing, so it’s not the first time I sat behind the steering wheel of a vehicle. It’s just really rewarding that we all put in 100% no matter what to go to work and take care of things at home and be those weekend warriors. It’s an amazing feat to be a champion in any class.”
Cash says his Late Model championship ranks up there with when he raced Mark McFarland at Old Dominion Speedway to win a championship in the Virginia Karting Association.
“Back when I was racing Go-Karts, I was able to outrun Mark McFarland for a championship up at Old Dominion,” Cash stated, reminiscing on his days racing against McFarland. “Last race of the year, it came down to a good finish up there. This year, with racing a Late Model, no matter how the outcome was, it ranks up there with outrunning Mark McFarland for a championship. There are guys racing all over the country that I used to drive wheel to wheel with in Go-Karts.”
Cash said he was also glad to see Wesley Thomason win the track championship at Franklin County.
“I was proud to see Wesley Thomason do great this year. I love to see people succeed and do what they want, even if I have an off night and they outrun with me. There are always good things to come out of a second or third place.”
As for next year, his plans are still up in the air.
“We’ll see what schedule we can run and where we can run. I don’t know if we’ll go out south or race around here, it depends on what Langley Austin’s going to do. We’d like to get that monkey off our back and get that big ‘W’. “
“Hopefully we’ll be a headache for everyone else next year. When we pull in, I want people to reach for that Goody’s headache powder.”
